Manifolding



July 18, 1944.

A. A. JOHNSON MANIFOLDING' Filed April 17, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A. A. JOHNSON MANIFOLDING July 18, 1944.

Filed April 17, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 30*? ACME co 9 ACMQICSO.

Y 15 /0 INVENTOR w I a? Patented July 18, 1944 UNITED s'rA'res PATENT OFFICE MANIFOLDING Arthur A. Johnson, Bridgeport, Conn assignor to Autographic Register Company, Hoboken, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 17, 1942, Serial No. 439,306

v 18 Claims.

This invention relates to manifolding, and is concerned particularly with so-called collated sets which may be made initially in the form of bound-together sheets, or bound-together continuou strips which may be severed into sheets. In making collated sets of interleaved record and transfer sheets, it has been customary to provide the sheets with an extra marginal portion or border within which the sheets are fastened together, usually by staples or spots of gum, to hold them in registration preparatory to, and during the operation of, writing upon the sheets. After the sheets are written upon, through suitable selective gripping portions the transfer and record sheets are separated and the binding margin of the record sheets are torn away from the body of the sheets.

As stated, these binding margins are extra portions which are removed and thrown away. They serve no useful permanent function in connection with the records made, and add to the cost of producing the article.

An object of the present invention is to make the production of the collated sets more economical, and to avoid the waste and extra cost attendant upon the use of extra binding margins on the strips. To this end, the present invention provides the fastening means, whether staples, spots of gum, or other suitable means, within the body of the forms themselves, and provides methods and means whereby the sheets of a set may be quickly and conveniently unfastened and separated after the writing operations have been performed thereon.

In the form of the invention herein disclosed, the interleaved record and transfer sheets are fastened together near one marginal edge, usually in the heading of the form, and the sheets are unfastened by punching out those portions of the sheets which contain the fastening means. For this purpose, a paper punch, having suitable guides, may be provided onto which the written collated set of sheets may be placed in such position that the punches, when operated, remove from the sheets not only the staples or other fastening means, but also the material of the strips immediately adjacent thereto.

According to the present invention in its preferred form, the fastening means are so located, and the punches are of such size and shape that the holes produced in the sheets may also serve as filing holes to receive the posts of a loose-leaf binder in which one or more of the record sheets areusually bound for subsequent reference.

ln sonie aspects of the present invention, the punch and punch holes serve merely the function of unfastening the sheets of a set, and the strip pins" of 'the records from the transfer sheets is providedgfor in any of a number of known waysfor instance, by providing finger grip tabs and grip-escape notches at opposite ends of the transfer sheet as disclosed in my Patent No. 2,258,573.

However, in cases where it is not desirable or expedient to so manufacture the transfer paper, according to the present invention punches and punch holes in the record sheets serve the additional function of holding these sheets against casual movement while the transfer sheets may be gripped over projecting portions, and pulled from between the record sheets so held.

In the broader aspects of this invention, the transfer sheets which are not to be used again may simply be pulled so as to tear through the material between the punch hole and the adjacent edge of the sheet, and this portion of the sheet may be slit or weakened to facilitate this operation.

The present invention also contemplates the blanking out in advance of a portion of the transfer sheet betweenthe fastener-carrying portion and the adjacent edge of the sheet so that when the punch hole is formed, an open slot is provided between the punch and the adjacent edg of the transfer sheet through which the post may easily pass when the transfer sheets are pulled so as to extract them from between the record sheets.

In addition to unfastening, and if desired separating, the sheets of a fastened group, the present invention also contemplates the uniastening of several groups of bound sheets from each other, o that the sheets of either or both groups may remain fastened together for subsequent inscriptions after the two group"- are separated. For this purpose, the individual group or groups are secured together and then the groups are fastened together by separate fastening means. To unfasten the groups and sheets, one punch is arranged so that it will remove the fastening means holding the groups together, and another punch or the same punch differently adjusted may subsequently be used for unfastening the sheets of the group. This selective unfastening feature of the present invention greatly increases the flexibility of use of collated formswithout adding any material for binding edges, etc.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear. p

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the present invention-- l Figure 1 is a plan view showing a suitable form of punch with the collated set in position to have the sheets thereof unfastened.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a transfer sheet in which a slit is provided between the punchedout portion and the adjacent edge to facilitate stripping of the transfer sheet.

Fig. 3 is a view ofthe sheets shown in Fig. 2 after it has been punched and removed from the record sheets.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a collated set, showing staples for fastening the sheets together located so near to the edge of the transfer sheet that the punch hole formed therein substantially frees the transfer sheet for extraction.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a transfer sheet showing a preformed slot in the edge thereof which, when the fastening means is punched out, forms an open channel for the passage of the punches.

Fig. 6 is a plan view showing the bound portion of a plurality of groups of sheets with the several fastening means used for holding the sheets of the group together and the groups together.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view showing the arrangement shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an elevation of a punch which may advantageously be used to punch out the fastening means and the portion of the paper containing the same.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a collated set which may incorporate either of the transfer sheet ar rangements shown in Figs. 2, 4 or 5.

Fig. 10 is a plan view showing the present invention applied to continuous strips in which the continuous strips may be severed along transversely arranged weakening lines to form separate collated sets which may receive subsequent inscriptions.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a collated set such as would be severed from the continuous strip shown in Fig. 10, the fastening means being punched out.

Fig. 12 is a plan view showing the form of the invention shown in Fig. 11 as unfastened by punching, and with the transfer sheets in the act of being extracted.

Fig, 13 is a view similar to Fig. '7, but showing an arrangement in which only one of the groups of sheets is separately secured together.

Fig. 14 is a plan view of a designating punch which may be used to. unfasten and identifythe record sheets.

Fig. 15 is a plan view of the bound portions of a collated set in which the sheets are held together by spots of adhesive.

Fig. 16 is a view like Fig. 4 showing the fastening means located in a weakened removable portion.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, collated manifolding sets usually comprise a.plurality of record sheets ill with interleaved transfer sheets Ii. The record sheets Ill usually have designated writing spaces l2 and printed matter l3 in the heading of the form. When the uppermost sheet is written upon, the writing is transferred to the lower record sheets. In some cases,

longitudinal marginal edge 20 as indicated in Fig. 4 if desired.

The staples may extend through all the sheets of the pile, or, as shown in Fig. 7, staples 2| may extend through one group of sheets of the pile while a staple 22 extends through another group of sheets, and a staple 23 may extend through all of the sheets to hold the groups together. This is the arrangement which would be employed where it is desired have all of the sheets written upon simultaneously to receive the collated sets are furnished in sheet-lengths as shown in Fig. 9, and are introduced into a typewriter to receive writing operations one sheet at a time. In other cases, they are furnished in the form of continuous strips Illa and Ila, the transfer strips being interleaved with the record strips and all of the strips are provided with transverse weakening lines I4 along which they may be torn to form collated sets l5 such as shown in Fig. 11. The strips may be held together during shipment and for introduction into a typewriting machine, as one, by staples l6 placed on the transverse lines of perforations M in the record strips and adapted to become inoperative to hold the record sheets together after the strips have been severed into sheetlengths.

To facilitate the separation of the record sheets from the transfer sheets, the line of weakcertain data, after which the two groups of sheets would be separated so that the group held together with the staple 2| would receive writings at one point or time while the group held together with the staple 22 would receive writings at another place or time, filling in at these other places and time such data as the sales price, shipping instructions or the like. In the event that only one group of sheets is to be subsequently written upon, the arrangement shown in Fig. 13 may be employed, where the staple 23 holds all of the sheets together, while the staple 2| holds the top group of sheets together-the under group being left for unfastened stripping and distribution.

Instead of staples, the sheets may be fastened together by spots of adhesive We as shown in Fig. 15.

It will be noted that in the various forms of the present invention, no binding margin need be provided on the sheets, and thus there is effected a considerable economy in material, and the wasteful practice of tearing off and throwing away the binding margin is avoided.

To separate the sheets of the collated pile, the present invention provides for punching out those portions of the superposed sheets in which the staple I9, spot of adhesive lBa or other fastening means is located. For this purpose, there may be provided a suitable punching device 24 having punches 25 operated by a shaft 26 and a handle 21 or other suitable means so that when the shaft is rocked, the punches descend and punch out the portion of the paper strips lying beneath;

them. To locate the strips on the punching device, there is provided end stops 28 and one or more lateral guides 29 against which the edges of the collated set are brought before the punches are operated. The punches are preferably substantially round, and when they are operated, will remove from the strips disks 30 indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 9 withinwhich the staples are located.

Thus, the staples are rendered inoperative to hold the sheets together, and, upon withdrawal of the punches from the holes 3| thus formed in the sheets, the sheets being unfastened may be separated from each other, that is to say, the transfer sheets may be withdrawn from the record sheets either singly or together and the record sheets may be distributed as desired.

only one staple holding all of the strips together,

there would simply be one punch properly located to blank out the material around the staple.

In order to facilitate the blanking out operation of the punch, the lowerend of each punch a sheets are extracted from between them. Since the transfer sheets are usually only good for one writing and are thrown away after a single use. it is merely necessary that the record sheets be held while the transfer sheets are pulled hard enough to' cause the paper between the hole 3| in the transfer sheet and an adjacent edge 33 to be torn, and if desired no special arrangement need be made to facilitate this tearing. However, to make the operation easier, the transfer sheet I I as shown in Fig. 2 may be provided with a slit 34 from the area containing the staple is to the adjacent edge 33 of the sheet. This will permit the paper to fold back as shown at 35 in Fig. 3 and allow the punch to pass when the transfer sheet is pulled from between the recoril sheets.

To further facilitate the carbon stripping operation, the transfer sheet ll may have a slot 36 (Fig. 5) blanked out from the edge 33 so that when the portion 30 is removed from the transfer paper along with the staple, a complete substantially free opening is provided for the passage of the punch.

An alternative arrangement is shown in Fig. 4, in which an edge 31 of the transfer paper is moved inwardly so that it lies quite close to the staples 19. With this arrangement, when the disk 30 is blanked out, the adjacent edge portion of the transfer paper will be removed with it, again permitting substantially free withdrawal of the transfer sheet past the post.

To facilitate gripping of the transfer sheets independently of the record sheets for this tearing operation, a margin 38 on the transfer sheet may be provided so as to extend beyond an adjacent margin 39 of the record sheet, or, as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, the tab portion l8 on the transfer sheets Ila may be used for this purpose. In the latter case, the transfer sheets will be withdrawn as one, since they are fastened together by the staple l6.

It is customary in manifolding forms to provide punch holes sometimes at the heading of the form and sometimes at the side edge of the form of such size and location as to fit over the posts or pinsof a loose-leaf binder in which one or more of the sheets may be placed for permanent storing. According to the present inventhe portions of the sheets containing the fastening means not only unfastens the sheets, but

facilitates the stripping of the transfer sheetsby the record sheets being impaled on the punches, and also provides fl1e,holes by means of which the sheets may be subsequently bound together as a permanent record. The punches.

when appropriately designed and shaped, may perform the additional function of identifying the person who audited or checked the work, especially when the work is a bill. For this purpose, the punches instead of being perfectly round, may be made with certain irregularities,

for instance as shown in Fig. 14, in which the punch 25 has a notch-forming portion 40 and each auditor or checker would have the sole use of the punch containing his characteristic design. With this arrangement, the bills may be written by a bill clerk and passed on to the checker or auditor while still fastened together. After checking the entries and the extensions on the bill, the auditor, by placing the set on a punching device and operating it, would not only unfasten the record sheets, strip the transfer sheets, and provide the filling holes, but also indicate by the character of the punch that it was he who checked and audited the bill.

As shown in Fig. 16, the portion of the record and transfer sheets in which the fastening means is located may be circumscribed by weakening lines II and as a consequence may be punched out of the sheets with any suitable instrument such as a pointed stick or pencil.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of this invention and portions ofIthf improvements may be used without others.

c arm:

1. The method of unfastening shock of mani- 1 superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means and simultaneously forming an impaling aperture in at least some of the leaves within the margins thereof.

2. The method of separating the sheets of a book of interleaved record and transfer sheets held together by fastening means'which includes the steps of punchingout of the sheets-those tion, the staples l9.may be so located and the punches 25 so located and of such size that the holes 3| formed by the punches may also serve as file holes. Since the binder posts are usually rather small, it is preferable that thestaples l9 be smaller than the usual staples employed to hold the sheets together, such as the staple 5.. 7

superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means, impaling the record sheets against movement, and then-exerting a pulling force on the transfer sheets to extract them from between the impaled record sheets.

3. Themethod of separating the sheets of a book of interleaved record and transfer sheets held together by fastening means which includes the steps of punching out of the sheets those superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means, simultaneously impaling the record sheets against movement, and then exerting a pulling force on the transfer sheets to extract them from between the impaled record sheets.

4. The method of separating the sheets of a bookof interleaved record and transfer sheets held together by fastening means which includes the steps of punching out of the sheets those superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means, holding the record and transfer sheets against casual movement by impaling means, and then grasping and pulling the transfer sheets past the impaling means to extract them from between the record sheets.

5. The method of separating the sheets of a book of interleaved record and transfer sheets held together by fastening means which includes the steps of punching out of the sheets those superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means and simultaneously removing from the transfer sheets portions thereof between the fastening means and the adjacent edge of the transfer sheets, impaling. the recordv sheets against casual movement, and then pulling the transfer sheets freely past the impaling means and out from between the impaled record sheets.

6. The method of separating the leaves of a book of interleaved record and transfer leaves bound together by fastening means located along the margin and within the body of the record leaves which includes the steps of disposing the held together leaves under a punching means with the punching means overlying the binding means within the margins of theleaves, and punching out of the leaves those superposed portions thereof which contain .the binding means, and simultaneously forming holes within the body of the record leaves to receive loose-leaf binder posts.

sequently unfastening one group of sheets from another group and the sheets of a group from each other which includes the steps of fastening the'sheets of one group together, separately fastening the two groups of sheets together, subsequently punching out from the sheets of both groups those superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means which holds the groups together, and subsequently punching out from the sheets of the group those superposed portions thereof which contain the fastening means which holds the sheets of said group together.

8. The method of separating the sheets of a book of interleaved record and transfer sheets held together by fastening means which includes the step of punching out of the sheets those superposed portions thereof which contain the binding means, and simultaneously forming holes in the record sheets to receive loose-leaf binder posts, and simultaneously marking the record sheets with designating indicia.

9. A collated set of record and transfer sheets secured together by fastening means within the body of the sheets located substantially remote from an edge of the record sheets in superposed imperforate areas which are adapted to be punched-out of the sheets along with the fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means, said areas and the location and spacing sheets.

11. A collated set of record and transfer sheets secured together by fastening means within the body of the sheets located substantially remote from an edge of the record sheets and in superposed imperforate areas of the sheets having a predetermined relation to said edges, said areas being adapted to be punched-out of the sheets along with the fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means while the edges of the sheets locate the sheets in predetermined position on a punching device.

12. A collated set of record and transfer sheets, having fastening means in the body of the sheets located substantially remote from an edge of the record sheets and securing the sheets together, the fastening means being located in su-.

perposed removable portions defined by circumscribing weakening lines which in the record sheets at least are spaced from an adjacent edge of said sheets and which are adapted to be punched-out of the sheets along with thefastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means and form completely enclosed holes in the record sheets.

13. A collated set of interleaved record and transfer sheets secured together by fastening means located in superposed imperforate areas of the record sheets adapted to be blanked-out of the sheets along with the fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means by a punch which holds the record sheets against movement while the transfer sheets are extracted from between the record sheet, the transfer sheets having a slit extending from the removable portion to the adjacent edge of the sheet to facilitate movement of the transfer sheet past th punch.

14. A collated set of interleaved record and transfer sheets secured together by fastening means located in superposed imperforate areas of the record sheets adapted to be blanked-out of the sheets along with the fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means by a punch which holds the record sheets against movement while the transfer sheets are extracted from betweenthe record sheets, and means for facilitating the escape of the portion of the transfer sheet lying between the removable portion and the adjacent edge of 'the sheet being adapted to tear to escape past the punch in being extracted from the records.

- 15. A collated set of interleaved record and transfer sheets secured together by fastening means located in superposed removable portions of the sheets adapted to be blanked-out of the sheets along with the fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means by a punch which holds the record sheets against movement while the transfer sheets are extracted from between the record sheet, the transfer sheets having an edge portion in registry with the removable portion whereby an escape passage is provided in the transfer sheet when said removable thereof being such as to form binder post holes;

portion is blanked out for the substantially free movement of the transfer sheet past the punch.

16. A collated set of interleaved record and transfer sheets secured together by fastening means located in superposed imperforate areas of the record sheets adapted to be blanked-out of the sheets along with th fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means by a punch which holds the record sheets against movement while the transfer sheets are extracted from between the record sheet, the edges of the I record and transfer sheets adjacent the removescape passage for the substantially free move-- ment of the transfer sheet past the punch when said removable portion is blanked-out.

17. The method of uniastening a book of manifolding leaves held together by fastening means disposed inwardly of the edge of the book which includes the steps of positioning the held together leaves in a punching means with the punching means overlying the inwardly "disposed fastening means, and punching out those intramarg'inal portions thereof which contain the fastening means and simultaneously forming completely circumscribed impaling apertures within at least some of the leaves.

is. s collated set of interleaved record and transfer sheets secured togethenby fastening means located in superposed imperforate areas of the record sheets adapted to be blanked-out of the sheets along with the fastening means to free the sheets from the fastening means by a punch which holds the record sheets against movement while .the transfer sheets are extracted from between the record sheet, the transfer sheets having a perforate portion between the removable portion and the adjacent edge of the sheet to facilitate movement of the transfer sheets past the punch in being extracted from between the record sheets.

ARTHUR A. JOHNSON.

CERTIFICATE oF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2, 5,902. July 18, 191A.

ARTHUR A. JOHNSON.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patentrequiring correction as Ij'ollows: Page h, sec-- ond column, lines lpj'and 1 .6,, claim 1b., strike out the words "being adapted to tear to escape"; and that the said Letters-Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform'to the record of the case in the Patent Office. a

Signed and sealed this 10th day of October, A. D. 19ml Henry Van Arsdale (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.. I 

